Obtaining the power of Four-Tails means that after Naruto, practicing Lava Release can get twice the result with half the effort.
Naruto thanked Roshi and turned around to leave. Gold Dust had already begun to gather at his feet.
However, Roshi's heavy and sincere voice came from behind. The tone was completely different from the bold and free and easy tone before, with an almost pathos-like determination.
"Sixth Hokage, please stay."
Naruto paused and looked sideways.
Guang also stopped moving, and his scarlet eyes looked quietly at the kneeling figure below through the gap in the white Golden Cloak.
Roshi's voice continued, clear and slow:
"I know what you did at Kusagakure. Although you annexed the village, you did nothing to the civilians there, and even restored order."
"So after I give you part of Four-Tails, Chakra, I can have the face to make a request to you."
Having said this, Roshi fell to his knees with a plop.
Naruto opened his eyes slightly and turned around slowly.
I saw Red-Haired Giant Roshi, who had been fighting with him calmly and with undiminished arrogance just now, was kneeling on his knees with his head lowered, and Red Eyes's beard and hair were trembling slightly in the night wind.
His torn monk robes were stained with dust and mud, but his burly body now revealed a sense of powerlessness and pleading.
"Your power... is too strong."
Roshi's voice was a little hoarse, with a bitterness of resignation.
"Even if I try my best and burn my life, I can't stop you from doing anything you want to do."
He raised his head, and his rough face was now full of exhaustion, struggle and the perseverance of final determination.
He looked directly at Naruto, with no fighting intention anymore, only the deepest plea:
"Although I have never gotten along well with Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, that stubborn, rigid old guy who always likes to put on airs.
I would rather travel outside these years than go back to the village to see his face."
Roshi's tone was filled with helplessness over the past grievances, but then, the conversation changed and the emotion became extremely heavy:
"But... he is the leader of Iwagakure after all, and one of the former guardians of this land."
"Moreover, Land of Earth is my country and Iwagakure is my hometown."
He said this sentence very slowly, and the words contained his deepest and inseparable feelings for the land that gave birth to and raised him.
"I shouldn't have... given you the power of Four-Tails. It was the village's strategic power."
Roshi's voice was filled with self-blame and pain, "But..."
He took a deep breath, as if he had exhausted all his strength:
"If I don't give this power to you as a 'price'... I have no qualifications or any leverage to ask you to let go of this country, let go of those ordinary Ninjas and civilians in Iwagakure."
"I can't...
I watched helplessly as my hometown was completely destroyed by the war and innocent people were displaced."
Roshi lowered his head again, almost touching the ground, and his voice was trembling but extremely clear:
"So..."
"This is my only request in this life."
"Please... treat the civilians of this country as kindly as you treat Kusagakure!
Please spare the life of that old guy Ōnoki.
Don't take his life."
After a long pause, as if he was gathering his last courage or making the ultimate sacrifice, Roshi said something that made both Naruto and Guang slightly moved:
"If you are willing to grant this request..."
"I am willing... to be at your mercy from now on."
After saying these words, Roshi seemed to have been drained of all his strength, and he lay on the ground, with only his broad shoulders rising slightly.
He regards his dignity as a Four-Tails Jinchūriki, his pride as a powerful Ninja, and his freedom as a wandering Monk...
Everything is staked on this request.
Listening to Roshi's hoarse and decisive words, seeing his burly body kneeling humbly on the cold and broken ground, Red Eyes's beard and hair stained with dust, Naruto subconsciously wanted to raise his hand to scratch his blond hair -.
However, just as his fingers moved, they stopped.
The person kneeling before him and making a painful request to him was a rough man with a weather-beaten temper and an iron will, Four-Tails Jinchūriki, a tough guy Monk known as Lava Release Training.
From the standpoint of the two of them, they are enemies.
The tenderness of the tough man certainly makes people moved, and even makes them respectful.
Roshi was able to do this for his hometown and Ōnoki, who had different ideals. There is no doubt about his sense of friendship and sacrifice.
But when this "tenderness" is placed in front of me, the "invader", in such a heavy and direct way... it's really troublesome.
Naruto's heart felt a little shaken and irritable at that moment.
I obviously told myself before launching the unification war that this was a war.
In war, there should be no soft-hearted people.
The voice of "Sixth Hokage" who was determined and ruthless before setting off and intended to achieve his goal with thunderous force reminded him.
However, looking at Roshi's eyes full of pain and expectation, I feel the other person's obsession to protect his homeland at all costs...
Naruto discovered that he could not completely become the cold Hokage after all.
He inexplicably thought of the afternoon when Ninja Academy was still in school, and he was fighting against loneliness next to the Naka River.
At that time, I was also thinking about the suffering I had experienced.
I thought of Girl who came with Bellflower flowers.
He sighed softly.
He did not scratch his head, nor did he accept this "allegiance" condescendingly.
Instead, he walked up to Roshi and squatted down.
He stretched out his hands and firmly held Roshi's shoulders that were shaking slightly with excitement and weakness.
What comes from the palm is the hard muscles and the heavy responsibility and pleading.
Roshi raised his head and looked seriously at Naruto's clear and firm Blue Eyes eyes.
There is no arrogance of a winner or hypocritical pity in the other party's eyes, only a frank understanding and a deeper determination.
"Uncle," Naruto said, his voice steady and powerful, piercing the night wind, "There is no need."
"My purpose in launching this unification war..."
"It was never intended to reignite the flames of war, cause more people to bleed and sacrifice, and create new hatred and pain."
His eyes became deeper, as if reflecting some grand vision:
"On the contrary, I am here to end the endless Shinobi World battles and estrangements that have lasted for decades, and to bring about... a longer and more stable peace."
"Perhaps my approach is radical, or it may be seen as aggressive and domineering by many people.
But the final result I pursue is not a world conquered by force, full of resentment and division, but a truly unified and orderly Shinobi World that can face future challenges together."
Having said this, Naruto's hand holding Roshi's shoulder tightened slightly, and his tone became more sincere:
"So, uncle, you don't need to be loyal to me, you don't need to be my master, and you don't need to exchange your freedom for anything."
He looked at the consternation and disbelief gradually rising in Roshi's eyes, and continued:
"You just need to..."
"After I truly unify this land and this country and establish a new order..."
"Continue as before, as you have always done, with your strength, with your Lava Release, with your will as a Training...
"Continue to protect this land that gave birth to and raised you, and protect the people on this land for whom you are willing to sacrifice everything."
"It's just that at that time, this land will no longer be an isolated 'Land of Earth', but a part of the unified Shinobi World.
And what you protect will also be a part of the broader peace."
Roshi's pupils were shocked. He saw a sun and saw that a new era was coming.
The Young Naruto in front of me will not be the second Hashirama Senju, nor will it be the second Sage of Six Paths.
But the first Naruto Uzumaki.
The coming New Era is the era of Naruto Uzumaki.